1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate connector allowing mating terminals to be inserted into terminal accommodating chambers from a side or the other side of a housing main body thereof and a terminal for use in the same substrate connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIGS. 1A-5C, a related substrate connector comprises a housing main body 5 which is fixed on a substrate 1 and has a plurality of terminal accommodating chambers 3, terminals 7 accommodated in the plural terminal accommodating chambers 3 and a spacer member 9 which holds these terminals 7 in the housing main body 5. The housing main body 5 has insertion openings 11 provided on one side thereof for allowing plural mating terminals to be inserted into each of the terminal accommodating chambers 3, and an installation opening 13 provided on the other side for allowing plural terminals 7 to be installed in the plural terminal accommodating chambers 3. The housing main body 5 has a guide slope 14 provided on an opening edge of the insertion opening 11 for guiding insertion of a mating terminal into the terminal accommodating chamber 3.
The terminal 7 is formed on the one side and accommodated in each terminal accommodating chamber 3 of the housing main body 5 and comprises a contact portion 15 coming into contact with a mating terminal 15 and a soldering fixing portion 17, which is formed on the other side, introduced out of the installation opening 13 in the housing main body 5 and fixed on the substrate 1.
The spacer member 9 is installed in the installation opening 13 of the housing main body 5 and comprises a retaining portion 21 which is in contact with the contact portion 15 of each of the plural terminals 7 for holding the contact portion 15 in each terminal accommodating chamber 3 and introduction opening 23 for introducing a soldering fixing portion 17 of each of the plural terminals 7 out of the housing main body 5.
When connecting the plural mating terminals to the plural terminals 7 in such a substrate connector 25, the mating terminals are inserted into the plural terminal accommodating chambers 3 through the insertion opening 11 of the housing main body 5. If an interval between adjacent ones of the plural mating terminals and plural insertion openings deflects, the front end of each thereof slides on a guide slope 11 and is introduced into the terminal accommodating chamber 3. As a result, the plural mating terminals of the substrate connector 25 are inserted into the terminal accommodating chambers 3 securely, so that they come into contact with the contact portions 15 of the plural terminals 7.
In this case, the substrate connector 25 guides the mating terminals into the terminal accommodating chambers 3 through the guide slope 14 having an inclination angle and size corresponding to an interval between adjacent ones of the mating terminals. Consequently, deflection of the interval between the adjacent one of the mating terminals with respect to the terminal accommodating chambers 3 is absorbed. For the reason, in order to match plural kinds of the mating terminals different in the interval between adjacent terminals with the substrate connector 25, it is relatedly necessary to prepare plural kinds of the substrate connectors 25 different in the inclination angle and size of the guide slope 14 corresponding to the specification of the mating terminals. As a result, the substrate connector 25 induces a high cost and inconvenience in part management.
Thus, a substrate connector 27 shown in FIGS. 6, 7 is employed. The substrate connector 27 is fixed to a substrate 30 having a through hole 29 and comprises a housing main body 33 having a plurality of terminal accommodating chambers 31, a plurality of terminals 35 accommodated in the terminal accommodating chambers 31 and a spacer member 39 allowing a plurality of mating terminals 54 to be inserted from the other side of the housing main body 33 into each terminal accommodating chamber 31. The housing main body 33 has an insertion opening 41 provided on one side for allowing the mating terminals 37 to be inserted from the one side of the housing main body 33 into each of the plural terminal accommodating chambers 31 and an installation opening 43 provided on the other side for installing the plural terminals 35 into the terminal accommodating chambers 31.
The insertion opening 41 has a guide slope 45 provided on an opening edge for guiding the mating terminal into the terminal accommodating chamber 31. The installation opening 43 is disposed over a through hole 29 in the substrate 1 when the housing main body 33 is fixed on the substrate 30.
The terminals 35 are formed on the one side and accommodated in the terminal accommodating chambers 31 in the housing main body 33. The terminal 35 comprises a contact portion 47 which comes into contact with mating terminals 37, 54 and a soldering fixing portion 49 which is formed on the other side, introduced out of the installation opening 43 of the housing main body 33 and soldered on the substrate 30.
The spacer 39 is installed on the other side of the housing main body 33 so as to close the installation opening 43 in the housing main body 33. The spacer member 39 comprises a spacer main body 53, which is in contact with the contact portion 47 of the terminal 35 for holding the contact portion 47 in each of the plural terminal accommodating chambers 31, a spacer side insertion opening 55, which is provided in this spacer main body 53 and communicates the through hole 29 in the substrate 30 to the installation opening 43 of the housing main body 33 for allowing the plural mating terminals 54 to be inserted into the terminal accommodating chambers 31 from the other side and an introduction opening 57 for introducing the soldering fixing portions 49 of the plural terminals 35 out of the housing main body 33.
A guide slope 59 for guiding a mating terminal 54 into the terminal accommodating chamber 31 is provided on an opening edge of the insertion opening 41 in the spacer member 39. This guide slope 59 is different from the guide slope 45 in the housing main body 33 in inclination angle and size.
If it is intended to connect the terminals 35 to the mating terminals of an electric connecting box 60 by means of such a substrate connector 27, the substrate 30 is accommodated in an accommodating space of the electric connecting box 60 from the one side of the housing main body 33. At this time, by matching the plural insertion openings 41 in the substrate connector 27 with the mating terminals 37 of the electric connecting box 60, the mating terminals 37 are inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 31 (see FIG. 7).
At this time, if intervals between adjacent ones of the plural mating terminals 37 and the insertion openings 41 deflect, front ends of the mating terminals 37 slide on the guide slope 45 of the housing main body 33 so that they are guided into the terminal accommodating chambers 31. As a result, the substrate connector 27 allows the mating terminals 37 to be inserted into the terminal accommodating chambers 31 from the one side of the housing main body 33 securely, so that the contact portions 47 of the terminals 35 come into contact with the mating terminals 37.
If it is intended to connect the mating terminals 37 to mating terminals 54 of an electric connecting box 61 which cannot be inserted from one side of the housing main body 33 because the interval between adjacent terminals is different from that of the former, the substrate 30 is accommodated in an accommodating space of the electric connecting box 61 from the other side of the housing main body 33. At this time, by matching the plural mating terminals 54 with the insertion openings 55 in the substrate connector 27, the mating terminals 54 are inserted in the terminal accommodating chambers 31.
If the intervals between adjacent ones of the insertion opening 55 and the mating terminal 54 deflect from each other, the front ends of the mating terminals 54 slide on the guide slope 59 of the spacer member 39 and are guided into the terminal accommodating chambers 31. As a result, in the substrate connector 27, the mating terminals 54 are inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 31 from the other side of the housing main body 33, so that the contact portions 47 of the terminals 35 come into contact with the mating terminals 54.
The substrate connector 27 can correspond to a difference in the specification of the mating terminals 37, 54 which are disposed in different intervals by selectively inserting the mating terminals 37, 54 into the terminal accommodating chambers 31 from the one side or the other side of the housing main body 33.
However, in the related substrate connector 27, the spacer member 39 for holding the terminal 35 within the terminal accommodating chamber 31 is provided with
an insertion opening 55 which allows the mating terminal 54 to be inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 31 from the other side of the housing main body 33. A guide slope 59 formed in this insertion opening 55 guides insertion of the mating terminal 54 into the terminal accommodating chamber 31. Thus, in the substrate connector 27, the quantity of components is increased by the amount of the spacer member 39, thereby increasing cost and complicating installation work.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a substrate connector for guiding insertion of the mating terminals into the terminal accommodating chambers from one side and the other side of the housing main body and capable of reducing the quantity of necessary components.
To achieve the above object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate connector comprising: a housing main body fixed to a substrate having a through hole and having terminal accommodating chambers; terminals which are accommodated and held in the terminal accommodating chambers and to be connected to mating terminals; an insertion opening formed on one side of the housing main body and for allowing the mating terminals to be inserted into the terminal accommodating chambers from one side of the housing main body; and an installation opening formed on the other side of the housing main body and for installing the terminals into the terminal accommodating chambers, wherein with the housing main body fixed to the substrate, the through hole in the substrate is communicated to the installation opening so that the mating terminals are allowed to be inserted into the terminal accommodating chambers from the other side of the housing main body and insertion of the mating terminals into the terminal accommodating chambers is selectively carried out corresponding to the specification of the mating terminal from one side or the other side of the housing main body, the substrate connector further comprising an insertion guide portion which is provided around the installation opening in the housing main body and guides the mating terminals into the terminal accommodating chambers when the mating terminals are inserted into the terminal accommodating chambers from the other side of the housing main body.
According to the first aspect of the present invention having such a structure, the installation opening communicates with the through hole in the substrate thereby allowing mating terminals to be inserted into the terminal accommodating chambers from the other side of the housing main body. Further, insertion of the mating terminals into the terminal accommodating chambers can be carried out selectively from one side or the other side of the housing main body corresponding to the specification of the mating terminals.
Additionally, the terminals are accommodated and held in the terminal accommodating chamber and when plural mating terminals are inserted into the terminal accommodating chambers from the other side of the housing main body, the plural mating terminals can be guided into the terminal accommodating chambers by means of an insertion guide portion formed around the installation opening.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate connector according to the first aspect further comprising: a contact portion which is formed on the one side and comes into contact with the mating terminal inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber; a soldering fixing portion which is formed on the other side and soldered to the substrate; linking portions for linking the contact portion with the soldering fixing portion; and terminal guide portions which are provided in the linking portions and guide the mating terminals to the contact portions when the mating terminals are inserted into the terminal accommodating chambers from the other side of the housing main body.
According to the second aspect of the present invention having such a structure, when inserting the mating terminals into the terminal accommodating chamber from the other side of the housing main body, the mating terminals inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber can be guided to the contact portions securely by means of the terminal guide portions formed in the linking portions of the terminal.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate connector according to the second aspect further comprising stress absorbing portions provided in the linking portions for absorbing a stress applied to the terminals.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, the stress absorbing portion for absorbing a force applied to the terminal is provided to prevent generation of crack in the soldering fixing portion.
Additionally, because even when the mating terminals are inserted into the terminal accommodating chambers in a condition that they are distorted due to their own elasticity, the contact portions are deflected due to elasticity of the stress absorbing portion corresponding to the mating terminals, the terminals can be connected to the mating terminals securely.